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MEET GRETCHEN WOELFLE
by Bonnie O'Brian

When did you start writing and what inspired you to start?

Gretchen Woelfle

I loved, loved, loved to read when I was a kid. I joined the summer reading program every year at my local library. One year I read three or four books every day. When I’d take them back the next day, the librarian would question me about every book. She didn’t believe I read them all! When I grew up I had several writing and editing jobs. Then one Christmas my mother-in-law sent me a transcript of some old family stories that went back to 18 th century Maine. I thought that some of these would make terrific stories for children. And so I entered the wonderful world of children’s literature.

Do you focus on fiction or nonfiction? Which do you prefer? Do you find one easier than the other?

I enjoy writing fiction and nonfiction, and they present many of the same challenges. Both of them have heroes and villains, conflicts and resolution. In my first book, THE WIND AT WORK, windmills are the heroes. My latest book, Jeannette Rankin: Political Pioneer, presents the difficulties and victories of our first Congresswoman.

Have any of your fiction stories been about real people or events?

The first stories I wrote – from the family history in Maine – were published in CRICKET magazines, as well as in anthologies called STORIES FROM WHERE WE LIVE. I took true events and characters and created scenes, imagining what the characters felt, and wrote historical fiction. KATJE THE WINDMILL CAT is partly true and partly invented. The climax of the story – a great flood and remarkable rescue – is true. But I invented the characters and plot of the story.

Do you enjoy researching?

I adore research. I can research till long after the cows come home. I’ll read one book, then check the bibliography and read those books, which send me off to still more books. I try to travel to the places where my stories take place. I want to see the sights, hear the sounds, smell the smells, and eat the foods my characters ate. I love traveling as much as I love reading!

What are you working on now?

 I’m focusing on biographies. My latest book, JEANNETTE RANKIN: POLITICAL PIONEER – a California Readers High School selection – gave me a taste for exploring the lives of extraordinary people. I’ve gone to Austria, Hungary, Britain, and France – as well as New England – to research my subjects. Tough job, I know, but someone has to do it! Researching one subject often leads me to my next subject. I’m in various stages of work on four Revolutionary heroes and heroines. Writing a biography is very similar to writing fiction. You present your subject’s inner and outer conflicts, strengths and weaknesses, struggles and triumphs. All the while sticking to the facts. Or you can slip over the line into historical fiction by creating dialogue and imagined scenes, but remaining true to the historical evidence. I’m doing both.

Do you like to include humor in your stories?

 Absolutely! So much historical fiction tends to be so serious, even grim. It’s as if people never had any fun as they cleared the forests and plowed the fields, suffering plagues and oppression. Life was a struggle – then as now – but people laughed and loved and sang and danced too. My personal Olympic gold medal for historical fiction goes to Sid Fleischman’s THE WHIPPING BOY. It’s so full of humor and adventure.

 What do you most want the students to get out of your school visits?

 I’d like them to feel some of the thrill of creating stories that I feel. I try to communicate my passion for my subject, whether it is Jeannette Rankin, who was vilified for voting against war in Congress, or the heart-stopping danger of a cat and a baby swept away in a flood, in KATJE THE WINDMILL CAT.

Is there anything about yourself that you’d like to share?

I love to hike, cycle, and camp in the Santa Monica Mountains close to home, or in the Sierras in northern California. I love to travel to faraway places – Europe, India, South America – to see how people live and to eat their foods. I grow my own fruits and vegetables in my back garden and spend countless happy days planting, weeding, and pruning. I love to sing in small and large groups. I haven’t written a story about singing yet, but I always have students sing along with me in my school visits. And, of course, I still love to read.